CLAYTON, MO. (St. Louis Public Radio) -
The St. Louis County Council voted Tuesday to move forward with a controversial plan to divide unincorporated areas into eight trash districts. Each zone would be served by a single garbage hauling company.

After two hours of impassioned testimony, the council rejected a bill from Councilman John Campisi that would have done away with the districts.

Kurt Witzel is among those opposed to the districting plan. The Republican Committeeman from unincorporated St. Louis County argued for a free market approach.

"Currently, if I'm not happy with a private hauler that picks up my trash I can go to a different hauler and contract with those people," Witzel said. "Under this plan I may be serviced by the same hauler that I just got rid of who is now my designated county hauler."

Proponents of districting say the existing system is inefficient because too many garbage trucks from multiple companies drive through neighborhoods.

One supporter of the new plan is former councilman Skip Mange. He said the curbside recycling option would mean less trash in landfills. He also said there would be fewer garbage trucks on the streets if pickup is consolidated.

"Instead of having two, three or four trash trucks from different companies coming down your street in the same day, there's only one company coming down that street," Mange said. "It may be twice a week, once for regular trash pickup and once for recycling."

Under the proposal the trash hauler for each district would be chosen by a competitive bidding process.